To make Yew pyre logs, players must first obtain some sacred oil. Sacred oil may be made during the Shades of Mort'ton minigame or the Shades of Mort'ton quest. To create the oil, players need to purchase normal olive oil from Razmire Keelgan's store in Mort'ton and then help to restore the temple that lies to the north of the town. Once the temple is rebuilt, players may light the altar in the centre of the temple and use their olive oil on the fire. This converts the ordinary olive oil into sacred oil.

Once the sacred oil has been obtained players will need to use four doses of it upon some yew logs. These logs will then become Yew pyre logs and the player is granted 16 Firemaking xp.

Once a player has obtained the Yew pyre logs, they may use them, along with a set of shade remains (Loar, Phrin, Riyl or Asyn), upon one of the numerous funeral pyres located to the south-west of Mort'ton's centre. If the player has a tinderbox in their inventory they may then light the pyre and, by doing so, release the spirit of the shade.
The player will see an animation of the shade's spirit floating up, away from the pyre, and then either a key or a stack of coins will appear on the pedestal nearby. The type and level of the key is dependent on which shade remains the player has burnt, with higher level shades leaving higher level keys.